March 16, 2004

New designer materials could eventually lead to “perfect lenses” for optical devices, able to focus on features smaller than the wavelength of light. Harnessing electrical and magnetic components at optical frequencies could lead to perfect lenses with vastly better resolution than conventional optical types.

March 16, 2004

In Japan, the world’s most rapidly aging nation, the future of elderly care seems to be in the hand of robots. Decisions by the Japanese government to push for home care instead of nursing homes and block the admittance of foreign nurses and doctors into the country have created an increasing demand for robotic care devices.

Sanyo Electric Co. has already developed a human washing machine for the elderly.… read more

March 16, 2004

A team of researchers has evidence that cells found in fatty tissues can boost blood vessel production. The team injected immature fat cells, called stromal cells, into the hind legs of mice with poor circulation and found that their blood flow was boosted fivefold. The discovery could pave the way for new treatments for many heart and circulation conditions.

March 16, 2004

The first human embryo to be created after an ovarian tissue transplant may signal hope for hundreds of thousands of women made infertile by cancer treatment.

Ovarian tissue from a 30-year old woman with breast cancer was removed and frozen before she underwent chemotherapy. Six years later, the tissue was transplanted back into the woman’s body, where it started functioning normally and producing eggs.

March 16, 2004

For the first time, researchers have induced differentiating cells to revert to being stem cells. The achievement with the fruit fly Drosophila suggests that de-differentiation should be explored as yet another route to generating stem cells for therapeutic purposes.

The researchers reported their findings in the March 14, 2004, advanced online edition of the journal Nature.

March 15, 2004

Researchers are hard at work building biological time machines that reverse aging in some cells.

Some are trying to reset biological clocks by mimicking “magic factors” in human eggs — the only cells in a woman’s body not programmed to die. Others are identifying molecules that enable salamanders to re-grow limbs. Chemists in San Diego have created a chemical compound they call “reversine,” which resets muscle cells in mice… read more

March 15, 2004

A robot race across the Mojave Desert turned into a parade of frustration Saturday, as 15 driverless vehicles spun their wheels, flipped over and encountered rocks and ruts that befuddled sensors and baffled programming.